Quick Take
The CrowdStrike outage in July 2024 exposed over 8 million Windows machines to boot failures, highlighting that even cybersecurity software can be a digital threat. CIOs and IT leaders must adopt agentless cybersecurity solutions to reduce risks and simplify management.
Why You Should Care
- Cybersecurity Software Can Fail Too. The CrowdStrike incident demonstrates that even software designed to protect systems can lead to significant business disruptions. An uncaught bug in Falcon's update resulted in kernel-level crashes, rendering machines unusable and causing major operational and reputational damage across industries.
- Agentless Cybersecurity Offers Resilience and Flexibility. Unlike agent-based solutions, agentless approaches avoid installing software on endpoints, minimizing the risk of large-scale outages. These solutions are lightweight, simpler to deploy, and particularly effective in environments with diverse hardware or cloud services, where agents are not viable.
What You Should Do Next
Evaluate your cybersecurity strategy to incorporate agentless solutions for environments where endpoint agents pose a risk. Ensure your security team is trained in deploying and managing these tools effectively, and conduct penetration testing to verify the software’s protection capabilities.
Get Started
- Assess Your Needs. Identify areas where agent-based cybersecurity is problematic, such as cloud services or IoT devices, and prioritize agentless solutions for these environments.
- Test Thoroughly. Perform red teaming or penetration tests to validate the efficacy of potential agentless software against emerging threats.
- Train Your Team. Partner with vendors for training resources to ensure seamless integration and effective usage of new software.
Combine Approaches. Consider using a hybrid of agentless and agent-based solutions to layer security and maintain visibility where needed.